Arthur's Seat and Art Museums

Yesterday a group of us decided to go hiking. The name of the mountain/hill is Arthur's Seat and it is only a mile walk from the hotel and it was such a beautiful day that we couldn't pass it up. We prepared by buying pre-made sandwiches from Sainsbury's and then we left the hotel sometime after 11. We made it up to the top in about an hour and ate lunch there. We waited to hear the cannon fire at one (this is the way that the ships set their clocks) and then we went to another ridge and got an excellent panoramic view of the city and then we went down. Most of us got soft serve from the ice cream truck at the bottom and then we came back to the hotel.

Today I woke up and went to St. Mary's Cathedral for mass and then came back to the hotel as some members of the group were leaving for St. Andrew's. I decided not to go after seeing the weather and realizing that it would literally be an all day event. Instead I got directions to the Art Galleries and set out. The first two were about a thirty minute walk from the hotel. I got a little lost but I found a beautiful footpath by the river that brought me right in front of the Dean Gallery. It was a smaller gallery but had some nice Dada and Surrealist pieces. I ate lunch in the cafe there and then walked across the street to the Modern Art Gallery and walked around there for awhile and then headed to the National Gallery of Scotland which had pieces from about the 15th century up to the Impressionists.

I love Scotland!

Glasgow was amazing to say the least. We had a fun project that had us thinking in a whole new way. The day we finished our project we had a tour of the Mackintosh building. It was so strange walking around in this building after seeing so many pictures and learning so much about it. The building exceeded my expectations for sure. I was sad when the guide first told us that we were not allowed to take pictures but as I was walking through it I realized that pictures would not do this building justice.

After the tour we meet up with Sarah and her partner Lauren at a nearby bar where they both gave some advice on social networking and meeting important people for jobs, so really valuable information. We left to go get dinner after about two hours and went to a place called Bella Italiano that turned out to be a longer walk that we originally thought. However, it was worth it because it was wonderful food and we had 2 for 1 coupons.

The next day we had off until 4 which is when we were leaving for Edinburgh. I ended up walking through the park to the Kelvingrove museum. There I saw Dali's Christ on the Cross and a Monet, Van Gogh, and Matisse. After that I went to the Mackintosh House which was picked up from its original location and moved to the University of Glasgow campus. The house was amazing as well, I truly enjoyed that tour. After that I meet up with the group and we got on a train to Edinburgh.

Today I walked the Royal Mile and ended at the Castle where everyone was supposed to meet at 2. So after the group got together we went inside the walls and walked around all the buildings and saw the crowned jewels and the stone which the royals are crowned on. After that more walking and city touring.

Day 2 in Glasgow

Today we ate lunch at the Willow Tea Room, designed by Mackintosh. The lunch was small but very good. I had the ham and cheese and got honey and almond tea which had a smooth taste and was just sweet enough for my liking.

The main idea of the project stayed the same but individually we changed course a few times throughout the day. Aft the beginning of the day I was in a group of four working on improving the library for families and a tech geek. By the end of the day I was working with a partner on creating a system to benefit the unemployed and the system is run through the library.

I am liking the idea of service design, it makes a lot of sense when you really about it. Our leader, Sarah Drummond, started a company called Snook and he and her partner work on improving services by learning about emotions while experiencing the service. It seems very interesting and it makes sense that people would need to be doing this sort of work. I think it is something I will have to look into in the future.

The Design Factor: Belfast

We had an office visit in Belfast and I was very impressed with William Lee and The Design factor. William Lee gave an excellent presentation about the things they were doing in the office and then gave us all some great tips for getting a job or internship and just overall things for our futures.

on to Scotland

I am glad to be out of Belfast and now in Glasgow, Scotland. Yesterday was a long day of traveling and I think we did just about as many types of transportation possible, minus a plane. We checked out of the hostel at 11 and then had some free time until 3 when we had to leave the city. So most of us went to the botanic gardens and then the Ulster Museum and then to lunch. At 3 we piled into taxis which took us to a ferry. The ferry ride was awesome! You could walk around and get food or sit and try to use the impossibly slow internet. After the 2 hour ferry ride we got on a one hour bus ride to take us to the train station which was another hour to bring us into Glasgow. By the time we got off the train it was dark and we walked through the hilly city to the guesthouse. It was very odd walking past the Mackintosh building of the Glasgow School of Art. I have seen so many pictures and have learned about him and it was just strange that I was in front of the actual building!

This morning I woke up early and went for a run, still not believing that that is the actual Mackintosh building and the Mackintosh tea rooms in front of me. Then I had a Scottish breakfast which included beans, bacon, potato pancake, toast, and eggs. It was delicious. Then we went to school, meeting on the steps of the Mackintosh building and then going across the street and getting to work on service design.

Our leader is a graduate student named Sarah and I really like the type of work that she does. It is not so product centered, but she thinks about the experiences we have when using services and how to improve those. Our project deals with getting certain user groups to use libraries more often. We went to visit a library today and talked to the librarian about the different services offered and how busy they were and things of that nature. So we should be ready to get working tomorrow.

Inch Island

The castle and the cows.

The Middle Project to Belfast

At the beginning of this week we were assigned a project that had us thinking differently that we had so far in our curriculum. We were given a problem and a solution and it was our job to come up with the middle.

The problem was the people forget things that they need to remember and the solution was a photo frame that had a reminder system that would alarm when necessary. It was our job to decide whom the frame would be for and to design the system and how this would work.

After a night of procrastination/frustration about what we were supposed to be doing Anthony (the assignment giver) came back to the Inch House the next morning and gave us a few ideas on how to get started, some confused me even more, and then there was the one that gave me the technique I used that brought me to my final solution. Basically, I thought of daily life for different people categories such as college students, middle-aged parents, the elderly and then I settled on working mothers as my target audience. We had a short meeting at 3 on Monday to show what we had thought of so far and then after that we were on our own until 9:30 Tuesday morning when we had to present powerpoints. I took a break and went for a run and then come back and worked until late in the night. The internet (which is already very slow) completely cut out on us around 1 a.m. when majority of us were still up and looking for pictures. So we all panicked and started figuring out what time we should get up in the morning, in hopes that it would be working then, to finish our powerpoints. The Internet came back up in about twenty minutes so we were all able to finish before we going to bed, the majority between 2 and 3 a.m.

The next morning went very well, everyone had their presentations and also did well presenting them. Anthony said goods things about everyone individually and then about the group after we were done.

Wednesday at the Inch House was a free day. We had a big game of Ultimate in the field across the street, which is next to a bunch of sheep. There was a newborn that was having a lot of trouble standing up. We all watched it cry for help and struggle to get up. Its mom would not go very far, it was funny because it seemed like she was getting impatient and wanted to walk to the other side of the field but didn’t want to leave the lamb alone on the ground with all these people standing around. Eventually the little guy got up and we all clapped for it.

Tony, the man who runs the Inch House, had told us about this castle on the island earlier in our stay there and since it was our last night a few of us decided to go out and find it after dinner. It didn’t sound like it was very far and it also doesn’t really get dark until after 9 so after dinner 5 of us set out to find the castle. We were told that we had to climb over a fence and walk though a farmer’s field to get down to the castle but that it would be obvious when that time came. So when we spotted the castle’s silhouette in the sunset we knocked on the door of the house in front of it but nobody came so we just hopped the fence and started walking towards the castle. There were maybe five cows in the field and the all began to stare and then slowly move towards us, which started to get a little intimidating so we slowed down a little, then about 10 or more cows appeared from behind some brush and started moving a little faster towards us. We decided that there had to be another way in so we turned around and climbed out of the fence and went a little further and went over another fence and down a hill, over a small stream, over a gate, ending up in a sheep field (we heard them but it was starting to get too dark to really see them) which is where this castle is located. We were able to walk all through it and up the stairs. We climbed to the very top, but once up there I realized that it was a much farther drop to the bottom than I had thought. We struggled to get good pictures, but I think that Taylor (carrying a SLR) was able to get some. By the time we got back down to the bottom of the castle flashlights were necessary. Instead of going back the way we came we took a dirt road after hopping the gate which eventually brought us back to the same cow pasture from before only this time they didn’t notice us and then we walked back to the Inch House.

Yesterday we came to Belfast after a long day of traveling/touring. The first stop was a short photo break at a castle. Next was Giant’s Causeway, which is this large formation of hexagonal rocks by the ocean. After that a tour of the Old Bushmill’s whiskey distillery including a taste test at the end. Our last tourist stop was at a rope bridge to a little rock island. Then it was an hour and fifteen-minute drive to Belfast. The hostel we are staying at is not the best so it’s a good thing that we are only here three nights. I have to say I’m glad we are on the move again for a little bit, over a week at the Inch House seemed too long.

I don’t know how familiar you are with the Troubles, a time in Northern Ireland beginning in the 1970s and I’m not so sure that they are over yet, but it is different in Northern Ireland. Inch Island is about 5 miles from the border on the Republic of Ireland side and very close to Derry or Londonderry. I also noticed that it just seemed different in Derry (there is also a wall dividing the city) and there is also something different about Belfast. Now this tension that I am sensing here may just be made up of the fear that I have in these cities that something could happen here, but I really think there is something different. To me it seems like these cities are pretty big and that more people should be out on the streets doing things but there aren’t that many people out here.